Many restaurants try to be all things to all people, but Home Plate Bay Street Grill in Taunton achieves it.

Opened five years ago on the site of the former Gondola restaurant, Home Plate is one part sports bar, one part family dining, one part nightclub — it could be an uneasy mix, but isn't, thanks to a smart design, good management and solid food.

I made the 25-minute drive up with my brother-in-law Jeff, and we met my other brother-in-law Paul (a Taunton resident). Diners have three options for seating, all of which are cool. There's a fireplace room with about 20 tables, relatively quiet, a big bar area that features a Fenway Park mural and two rows of Green Monster-style stadium seating that overlooks an impressive wall of TVs. Also, there's a new sun room, a glass enclosure that faces Lake Sabbatia,

We were fashionably late, and by the time we got there Paul had already earned a free T-shirt with his beer purchase (Budweiser Black Crown, $3.75) as part of a radio station promo night. We chose the sun room (despite it being a winter night), and I sat with my back to the Bruins game as the traffic ambled by and we all chatted and determined what we wanted to order.

Jeff, never one to pass up a freebie (or a beer), ordered one of the Black Crowns as well. He got his T-shirt, and posed for a promo pic with his bro.

I got a water.

No T-shirt for me.

Jeff is always half-seriously begging for a gig as a food reviewer for the paper (denied!), so this was his big chance to deliver his opinion to the masses. He made sure to give me his detailed opinion every step of the way.

Our server Katie was just back from maternity leave (welcome, baby Ezekiel), and while service was a tad slow on a packed Tuesday night, she had answers to all of our questions.

We started off with the Home Plate Sampler ($11.99) — some variation of which will probably almost always be my Dine Out choice when exploring a pub-style menu. It's good to share, gives you a chance to sample three or four things at once, and gives you a good idea of the kitchen's quality.

We'll address the four items in order of success. The buffalo tenders were best in show, extremely good pieces of chicken, cooked right, crispy, not too spicy. The home-made onion rings were a proud silver medalist, with a flavorful, crusty coating (Jeff: "good mix of seasoning ... I like the way the onions are cut.") The skins and mozzarella sticks were more or less boilerplate, but wound up happily eaten. A full order of onion rings ($6.99) promises "boom boom" sauce, but there was none with the sampler.

While the Bruins were playing, we waited for our entrees — not a long wait, but had we not been in a relaxed mode we might have been getting a bit antsy.

I had been wanting a pizza all day, and probably should have gone with the base Italian version with some combo of toppings I like — but I'm a sucker for Mexican style pizzas and went with their version ($8.99), topped with seasoned beef, salsa, cheddar, tomato, red onions and sour cream.

It was good enough, but when you order a specialty pizza you're expecting it to really have a well-developed theme — this one didn't. It promised seasoned beef, but there was no flavor to the meat at all. I didn't really taste any salsa, either, and the lack of lettuce seemed glaring to me so I asked for a side dish. We all talked about ways to improve it (Jeff: "Jalapenos!"), but the base product was still enjoyable enough.

Other special pizzas (all $8.99 for a small) include the "Home Run" (scallops, bacon, alfredo sauce) and shrimp scampi.

Paul chose the "Design Your Own Dinner" concept, which is a good one. From a list of 14 entrees, you can pick two ($12.99), three ($15.99) or four ($18.99) and add two of their 15 sides.

Six of the entrees come with an additional $1 cost each — including his baked scallops, which were particularly good. Covered in a lobster bisque sauce that went great with the garlic red-skinned mashed potatoes, I was envious.

His crab cake, which the Boudreau brothers split, was also good (Jeff: "light "» good texture "» just the right amount of crab"), paired with a wasabi sauce that was wisely served on the side.

They also liked the sweet potato fries, although I personally consider them an insult to humanity — few things are tastier than the French fry, and while sweet potatoes are a tad healthier than regular, it's not as if deep-frying an inferior-tasting product is going to melt the pounds away.

Other entrée options in the choose-your-own mix include fried shrimp, salmon, roast turkey, and steak tips.

Jeff ordered the blackened chicken pasta ($12.99), which was the best dish of the night. The chicken was delicious, seared and spicy, and the creamy garlic alfredo sauce was really good. The warm garlic bread served on the side was extremely good as well, and would be a worthy appetizer offering. Even after Paul and I had a few bites and Jeff ate quite a bit, there was plenty left. (Jeff: "You know what? I like saving half my entrée for the next day. Look at that! That's a great lunch right there!")

For dessert, we split an apple crisp ($4.99) that was fine — I've yet to meet an apple crisp that wasn't worth having. Jeff added a coffee ($1.75).

There were tons of other options, including soup/salad combos, burgers, sandwiches, and a gluten-free menu (lasagna, $10.99; lemon-herb chicken, $10.99; pizza, $9.99; and cheesecake, $6.99).

That's one of the reasons that Home Plate works — they've got a huge menu, there seems to be a desire to constantly push for something new, and the staff worked notably hard throughout the evening. They have something going on every night, a breakfast buffet on Sunday, a function room downstairs, a lot of relationships with charity groups and the community. It's a place you want to come back to.

We took our time, and it was almost 10 when we left. We popped into the bar area, and were a bit stunned to see how jammin' it was — there was a DJ pleasing a big crowd of 20-somethings who were playing beer pong, something you didn't even sense from the comfort of the sun room.

The total, without the two beers, was $58.52 including tax. We ended up leaving with four promo T-shirts, two Budweiser cosies, three losing $2 scratch tickets, full stomachs and two leftover lunches — not a bad night, for sure.

Dine Out's reviewer visits restaurants unannounced and at his or her discretion. The Standard-Times pays for the meals reviewed. The reviews merely reflect one diner's experience. Ratings range from 1 to 5 stars.